


Just Right

by sparksfly7



Category: GOT7
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-16
Updated: 2017-12-16
Packaged: 2019-02-15 11:50:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,060
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13030455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sparksfly7/pseuds/sparksfly7
Summary: “Welcome to the House of Wang,” the guy at the counter proclaims with a beaming smile and his arms held wide open. He’s wearing a black snapback and a white apron over a baggy grey t-shirt. “How may I help you?”Jaebum blinks. “That wasn’t the name on the sign,” is the only thing he can think of saying.





	Just Right

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote most of this in November 2015 - so more than 2 years ago - and then it's just been gathering dust in my docs since then and today I took it out and cleaned it off. Hopefully it's presentable?
> 
> This is my first time writing GOT7 fic. I was highly inspired by [riots'](http://archiveofourown.org/users/riots/pseuds/riots) works, especially [Up, Up, Up](http://archiveofourown.org/works/3848206).

Jaebum isn’t sure how he ended up at The Busy Bean. He’s passed by the café quite a few times, but he usually gets Starbucks, more out of convenience than anything because there’s always one around. He’s one for sticking to his routine, but just this once he ends up breaking it.

“Welcome to the House of Wang,” the guy at the counter proclaims with a beaming smile and his arms held wide open. He’s wearing a black snapback and a white apron over a baggy grey t-shirt. “How may I help you?”

Jaebum blinks. “That wasn’t the name on the sign,” is the only thing he can think of saying.

“It’s my name,” the guy says, tapping his snapback, which has ‘WANG’ written on it in big silver letters. It’s honestly super gaudy, but the guy – Jackson, or at least it says so on his nametag – is smiling so broadly Jaebum finds the corners of his mouth turning up too.

“Hi, House of Wang,” he says. “I’ll have a medium coffee. One milk, half sugar.”

“Coming right up!” Jackson’s smile makes him look like he’s rehearsing for a toothpaste commercial. “You sure you only want a medium? I would think you would want a big size, for a big guy like yourself.” He’s leering, but he doesn’t look vulgar, only playful.

“Uh, yeah. I’m sure.”

Jackson sweeps off his snapback and inclines his head. “Your coffee will be right with you.”

“Yeah, okay.” Jaebum clears his throat. “Thanks.”

Jackson hums something to himself as he makes Jaebum’s coffee, his hips swaying as if to some unheard beat, and Jaebum looks away before Jackson can realize that he’s staring.

 

Somehow, he ends up in a conversation with Jackson. Or it might be more accurate to say that Jackson ropes him into one.

“So, what do you do?” Jackson asks, waggling his eyebrows and putting an emphasis on the last word that’s rather out of place in an otherwise typical question.

“Sorry?” Jaebum asks politely.

“For a living,” Jackson clarifies.

“Oh, I’m in finance,” Jaebum says, and Jackson nods like that’s exactly what he expected to hear.

“No wonder you always count the change faster than I can,” Jackson says, and Jaebum can’t help a laugh. “Do you like it?”

“Do I like it?” Jaebum repeats, taken aback. He’s been asked about his salary, his degree, but never his interest.

Jackson nods seriously. “Do you?”

“I-I mean it’s all right. It’s a job, you know?”

Jackson nods again. “I know. It’s an occupation, not a passion.”

“Right,” Jaebum says slowly, and tries not to linger on how this random barista understands him better than any of his coworkers.

 

And one day Jaebum notices that The Busy Bean, or The House of Wang as Jackson would put it, has become part of his routine.

“What about you?” Jaebum asks.

Jackson looks up from where he’s wiping down the counter. He’s always so diligent about keeping the place clean and tidy. “Huh?”

“Is it your passion to make coffee?”

“Not really. But, you know, a job’s a job, right?” Jackson shrugs. “My rent won’t pay itself.”

Jaebum looks around. “Business doesn’t look that great.”

“Gee, thanks.”

“I didn’t mean it like that,” Jaebum says immediately. “I just…”

“Don’t worry, man,” Jackson says. “There’s plenty of the Jackson Wang charm to keep the customers flocking back.”

And despite himself, Jaebum ends up laughing. Definitely not because of Jackson’s so-called charm though.

 

Jaebum glances at the menu, even though he already knows what he wants. “I’ll have—”

“—the usual?” Jackson asks. “A medium coffee, one milk, half sugar?”

“Yes.”

“Do you want whipped cream with that?”

“Whipped cream?” Jaebum repeats. He’s seen whipped cream put on a café latte or caramel macchiato, but on a regular coffee?

“Yeah.” Jackson grins. “Trust me, it makes everything better.”

“Thanks, but I’ll have to pass.”

Jackson gives him a wounded look, like he’s somehow offended Jackson’s sensibilities by saying no to whipped cream.

“You have to try it one day,” Jackson says. “I promise you’ll love it.”

“Okay,” Jaebum says, bemused. “Maybe one day.”

Jackson wags his finger at him. “I’m holding you to that. I don’t forget things, man.”

“I’m sure you’d forget me any day now if I stopped coming around,” Jaebum says, only half-joking.

Jackson looks very seriously at him. “No,” he says, holding Jaebum’s gaze. “I wouldn’t.”

Jaebum blames the way his heart beats faster on how much coffee he drank.

 

When Jackson asks Jaebum to try one of his new concoctions, Jaebum doesn’t think anything of it, although he makes sure there isn’t whipped cream.

He takes a big gulp of the drink and coughs so hard he feels like his lungs are straining. “Did you – is there salt in here?”

“Sorry,” Jackson says sheepishly. “I think I might have mixed it up with sugar.”

“And why is it so…spicy?”

“Err, I was experimenting with spices, because I heard that cinnamon goes well with coffee. Maybe that wasn’t the best idea.”

Jaebum just kind of stares at him speechlessly. Jackson holds up a canister with a smile. “Everything’s better with whipped cream?”

Jaebum shakes his head, but he can’t help the way his mouth quirks up at the corner.

 

Despite its name, The Busy Bean usually isn’t that busy. Sometimes Jackson leaves the counter and joins Jaebum at whatever table he’s sitting at to chat, and sometimes, like today, Jaebum will walk up to the front to talk to him.

They’re talking about the Summer Olympics and Korea’s chances in them, and Jaebum brings up the young fencer who won silver in London and who Korea is pinning their hopes on for Rio.

“I used to fence,” Jackson suddenly says.

“Fence?” Jaebum’s eyebrows almost climb into his hairline. “That’s cool.”

“Yeah, well.” Jackson shrugs. “Not so cool when you tear your ACL right before Olympics trials and blow your chance.”

“Oh,” Jaebum says awkwardly. “I’m sorry.”

“That’s what everyone says.” Jackson continues rinsing the mug in his hand, even though it’s already clean.

“Why didn’t you – there were other chances, right?”

Jackson doesn’t reply. His eyes are focused on a point beyond Jaebum, and when Jaebum turns, he realizes that there’s another person in line.

“I have to take this order,” Jackson tells him, without looking at him.

“Right, of course.” Jaebum moves aside and watches as Jackson smile blindingly at the girl in line, who just wants a medium latte but ends up ordering a large one with a flavour shot and a croissant as well.

Maybe Jackson isn’t so off about the Jackson Wang charm thing. Not that Jaebum would ever tell him that. God forbid Jackson’s ego get any bigger.

 

Jaebum isn’t one for offering information about himself, but somehow he finds the words leaving his mouth.

“I used to dream of becoming a dancer.”

“A dancer?” Jackson echoes, like he can’t even entertain the idea.

“Yeah.” Jaebum’s mouth twists wryly. “It’s quite a far cry from finance, huh?”

Jackson tilts his head in consideration. “You move your hips very well.”

Jaebum’s face does not heat up. Not at all. “Why are you watching my hip movements?”

“I notice these things. I used to be a fencer, remember?”

“Yeah, I remember. Funny how things turned out for both of us.”

“What kind of dancer did you want to be, anyway?” Jackson raises his arms above his head. “A ballerina?”

Jaebum snorts. “A ballerina is a female ballet dancer, you idiot.”

Jackson looks unruffled. “Whatever. If you wanted to be one, I won’t judge.”

“No, I can’t say I ever wanted to be a ballerina…”

“A stripper?”

“ _What_.”

“Well, they’re also called exotic dancers.” Jackson looks at Jaebum with his head titled again, like he’s imagining him on a pole. Jaebum has to fight to maintain eye contact. “Don’t be so disrespectful, man, it’s a perfectly legitimate occupation.”

“No, I didn’t want to be an—exotic dancer either,” Jaebum says through gritted teeth.

“Don’t tell me you wanted to be an idol.”

Jaebum opens his mouth, closes it again, and finally just shrugs.

“Wow, really?” Jackson blinks. “I was just kidding.”

“What?” Jaebum says, rather defensively. “What’s wrong with wanting that?”

“Nothing,” Jackson says, sounding like he means it. “Nothing at all. I thought about it for a while too.”

“You did?”

“Yeah, I used to dance too, and I mean, look at this face. It needs to be shared with the world.” Jaebum doesn’t even bother with rolling his eyes; he’s so used to Jackson’s…Jackson-ness. “But I wanted to fence too and I chose it over dancing. And then…” Jackson leans his hip against the counter. “Neither worked out in the end. Obviously.”

Jaebum doesn’t know what to say. _I’m sorry_ sounds trite, or worse, pitying, and he knows that Jackson would hate his pity as much as he would hate Jackson’s. “You would’ve been a good idol, I think,” he says, finally. Just the way that Jackson charms the customers and keeps them coming back despite the terrible coffee – except Jaebum, of course, he’s not charmed by Jackson, he just feels obligated to help Jackson pay his rent by buying some things – is proof of that.

“Duh, I would have.” Jackson wags his finger in front of Jaebum’s face. “I got all this swag, man. The girls would have loved me.”

Jaebum laughs. “Yes, you’re full of swag,” he deadpans. “Do you think I could get a cappuccino from you, Mr. Swag?”

“Large or extra-large?”

“Medium,” Jaebum says, and then at Jackson’s pout, sighs and relents. “Okay, extra-large.”

Jackson beams. “With whipped cream?” he asks like he already knows the answer.

Jaebum thinks about it for a second. “Sure, why not?”

“It makes everything better,” Jackson promises. He runs off to make Jaebum’s drink, humming something under his breath, and Jaebum smiles.

 

“I never told you. When I first met you—”

“—you thought I was the coolest person on earth? Yeah, I get that a lot.”

“Ha ha. You wish.”

“I don’t need to wish, okay? It’s totally true.”

“And even if I did think that, I definitely wouldn’t have after spending five minutes with you.”

“Hey!”

“What kind of person introduces the coffee shop they work at as ‘House of Wang’? It sounds like a brothel.”

“You wish this was anything like a brothel and you could have this hot piece of ass.”

“Goodbye.”

 

“I don’t understand how you make coffee so well from a machine but when you try to personalize it at all, it turns out like…this,” Jaebum says, looking down at the contents of his cup.

Jackson has that hurt look on his face again. “Hey, you’re still my number one customer so clearly something kept you coming back.”

Jaebum raises an eyebrow. “And what do you think that is?”

Jackson waggles his. “Well, definitely not the coffee.”

The corners of Jaebum’s mouth crook up. “I don’t think you should be putting down the coffee at the café you work at.”

Jackson doesn’t look bothered. “Well, it’s not like you’re going to stop coming here because I said that.”

“How do you know I won’t?”

Jackson leans forward on his elbows with a wide grin. “I know our coffee burns a lot of people’s tongues, but that’s not the hot stuff that has you coming back.”

Jaebum doesn’t know whether to laugh or snort, and a sound somewhere in between rises up in his throat.

“Wasn’t that good?” Jackson pouts. “I thought that was good. Come on, I’m a pro at pick-up lines.”

“You should stick to your day job,” Jaebum tells him. Then he remembers what Jackson’s coffee tastes like. “Or on second thought…”

Jackson snatches Jaebum’s coffee and takes a big, pointed gulp. His nose wrinkles, but he gives Jaebum a fiery look. “Okay, so this isn’t the best drink ever but it’s not _terrible_.”

Jaebum bites down on the inside of his cheek so he wouldn’t laugh. Jackson has a thick cream mustache, and it’s not helping his ‘determined’ expression at all.

Jackson’s scowl deepens. “What’s so funny?”

In response, Jaebum reaches out and dabs the cream from his upper lip with his thumb. Pink climbs up Jackson’s cheeks as Jaebum licks the cream off his thumb and smiles. “You’re right,” he says. “Everything _is_ better with whipped cream.”


End file.
